The last time writer/director Shane Black and producer Joel Silver worked together, the result was the very funny neo-noir Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which helped re-launch the career of Robert Downey, Jr. After festival appearances the film was given a low-profile fall rollout by Warner Bros., and it flew under the radar of most moviegoers.

Back and Silver’s next film, The Nice Guys, will probably fare a bit different. Warner Bros. also has the distribution rights to the new picture, and it has locked Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe as stars to play a private detective and muscle-for hire, respectively, who are drawn into a massive conspiracy while tackling seemingly separate cases. Now the film has a summer 2016 release date, which means it is really on. Read More »

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We’ve figured for years that Warner Bros. would get around to remaking Lethal Weapon sooner or later. There has been no reported movement on the project, but with the title standing as one of the studio’s more recognizable and salable catalog titles, it has to happen. Now there are rumors of movement, and producers are at least not straying from the idea of an Australian in the lead role. Word is that Chris Hemsworth is being sought to star in the reboot, with Justin Lin as the possible director.

Update: At least half of this rumor is already debunked, as Justin Lin says he’s not doing the movie. More below.

Last week, producer Joel Silversaid a little something about how Terry Gilliam‘s Watchmen would have been “a MUCH much better movie” than the one Zack Snyder turned in, complete with a detailed explanation of the ending that Gilliam had had in mind. Snyder himself has read Silver’s words, and (unsurprisingly, and understandably), he’s inclined to disagree.

Bashing Gilliam’s conclusion as “completely insane,” Snyder declared that he’d made the movie himself “to save it from the Terry Gilliams of this world.” And he’s pretty happy with the way his Watchmen turned out, even if Silver wasn’t — Snyder says it’s “probably” his favorite of his own films. Read Snyder’s defense of his movie after the jump.

When it finally opened in 2009, Watchmen had been developing for decades under a great many different people. One of them was Terry Gilliam, who’d been attached in the ’90s to helm from a script by Charles McKeown with Joel Silver producing. Alas, they were unable to make it work, and the project eventually fell into Zack Snyder‘s lap.

And while the version he turned in wasn’t bad, really, it wasn’t great, either. Certainly it’s not as great as Silver thinks Gilliam’s movie would’ve been — and after hearing his description of it, we’re inclined to agree. Hit the jump to find out the crazy-brilliant ending Gilliam had had in mind for the Alan Moore-based superhero saga.

So is a remake of Escape From New York actually happening? Producer Joel Silver hopes so. It’s a project that’s been in development for almost a decade, most recently switching rights between studios. Even with the struggles, the producer behind The Matrix, Lethal Weapon and Die Hard has a very strong vision of how Snake Plissken can once again flourish on the big screen.

Silver’s vision includes expanding the scope to give more backstory to Plissken and his world, and effectively setting up a trilogy where the second film would be a remake of the John Carpenter original, with a new prequel and sequel bookending it. Below, read some quotes from the producer with updates on the project. Read More »

Michael Bacall‘s effort to bring 21 Jump Street into the 21st century proved more successful than anyone would’ve guessed. The 2012 remake picked up an impressive $200 million at the box office and a slew of glowing reviews on top of that. Now he’ll try to recreate that success with another well liked ’80s property, John Hughes‘ Weird Science.

The project is set up at Universal, with Joel Silver producing. It’s very familiar property for both the studio and the producer, who were also behind the 1985 original. Hit the jump to keep reading.

Today, Empire ran a great new photo of the original Escape From New York team of director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell. Along with the pic, Carpenter commented on the potential new reboot of Escape From New York (“they don’t know where they’re going with it”) and Russell opined on the problem with casting a new version of his character Snake Plissken. “If you’re going to do him, do him young. He’s one of those guys,” Russell says. “When it comes to Snake, I can tell you one thing… he’s American. It’s really important that he’s American.”

Appropriately enough, we’ve now got some potential casting options for the reboot/prequel, and neither is an American actor. Tom Hardy and Jason Statham are the two actors that have been newly rumored as the possible new Plissken in the film Joel Silver is setting up to be the first in a new trilogy. Read More »

Most of the biggest John Carpenter properties have either been remake or given some sort of new life (Halloween, The Fog, The Thing) or have been targeted for potential remakes (They Live, Escape From New York).

Escape From New York tells the story of a convict who is sent into Manhattan — now a maximum security prison hellhole — to rescue the President of the United States, who has crashed on the island and is hostage to a local kingpin. The Escape remake was left dead in the water at New Line two years back when the option lapsed, but now it has been given new life. (And not as the Guy Pearce film Lockout, which does have a pretty similar plot outline.)

Joel Silver (The Matrix) is working with StudioCanal to produce a reboot in the hopes of launching a new franchise.

With movie adaptations being made of every book, TV series, video game, action figure, and boardgame in sight, it was only a matter of time before Cartoon Network’s Ben 10 found its way to the big screen. Joel Silversigned on to make a live-action feature version of the popular sci-fi series back in 2011, and while there haven’t been a ton of updates since then it’s now taking a step forward as up-and-coming writer Ryan Engle boards. Hit the jump to keep reading.